The Contest Crew is… back on W1DED Worldwide Ham Radio with a tactical debrief on the upcoming CQ WPX SSB contest—and this time, the stakes are personal. Host Kevin Thomas, W1DED, is in Turks and Caicos to operate as VP5E, and he’s tapping into the collective brainpower of three of the world’s top contest minds: Randy Thompson (K5ZD), Chris Hurlbut (KL9A), and Dan Craig (N6MJ). What follows is equal parts masterclass and mentoring session. Should Kevin run low or high power from his island station? Where should he fix his non-rotatable beam? What’s the smartest way to spend the 36 single-op hours? The Contest Crew delivers, with specific, highly transferable advice for anyone jumping into WPX. They break down how to use overlays to your advantage, why 40 meters could be your secret weapon, and how to approach rate vs. multipliers without losing your mind. Kevin, who’s been living at the station for weeks and logging thousands of QSOs in prep, is ready to level up—and the Crew gives him the blueprint to do it. We also get a behind-the-scenes look at the multi-multi match-up everyone’s watching: K3LR vs. ND7K. Expect all-star lineups, fast hands, and some friendly cross-band smack talk. Whether you’re a seasoned contester or just looking to pick up a few extra multipliers this year, this is the pre-WPX tune-up you didn’t know you needed. Join the conversation and subscribe to W1DED Worldwide Ham Radio for more insight, strategy, and great storytelling from inside the shack.
Excellent presentation as usual. A couple things they didn't mention/missed, and hopefully some readers here will take notice: 1. Randy made a blanket statement that you can use spotting assistance in all categories... not true. Spotting assistance is prohibited in the 24 hour, one radio "Classic" overlay. 2. If you're thinking of operating 24 hours or less with one radio, and debating whether you should go "Classic" or "Tri-band/Wires" overlay (you can only choose one overlay), keep in mind that "Tri-band/Wires" is *not* a "limited Antennas" category like in the ARRL tests (only verticals and wires). If you only have (compromised) verticals and/or wires and choose "Tri-band/Wires", you'll be competing against stations that can have a six element rotatable (10, 15, 20M) tri-band beam on a 100' tower with wires for the low bands...the WPX definition. And competing against 36 hour ops in that category! "Classic" can use any types/configurations of antennas...you'll only be competing against 24 hour or less stations. So, think about that and make the best choice for you and your station/antenna situation. Good luck in the contest! 73, Bob K7JQ
With my humble station, 100W and G5RV-antenna, I will take part and expect a lot of fun. My whole family promised to support me, the will provide food, drinks, snacks etc. in my shack and will not disturb me. My wife said, she will come in my shack only in the case of fire in the house. What a good luck!
I encourage all the super station contesting to QSL and upload their logs to all the sites; LOTW, QRZ, Clublog, eQSL… My numbers during contests, show that the confirmation rate from stations I contact that are supers is about 25% compered to 50%+ for regular guys. Us little pistols use these contest to pickup rare or needed locations, that’s one of the purposes of the contests right? I upload my logs to the contest managers to get the other’s logs valid. And finally, All the logging software can do it on the fly (instantly) or as a batch process soon afterwards. It doesn’t seem too difficult to upload everywhere. Just my observations and thoughts Phillip KQ4AJI IC-7300 @100W with a fan dipole
Great point Phillip....the big guns rely on everyone uploading their logs for the contests but not everyone is going to be up in the top 10...our pay-off would be new DXCC or other contributions to QRZ Awards for example. Help us out guys!
Nicely done,Kevin! Even though the entire session was about the woes of a big gun with a super station (so, totally unrelated to most, me included) it is a great insight into why I am (or not) in the big gun's logs- helps me understand & adjust better. BTW, I have logged VP5M every year since 2017). PS.Back in 1999/2000 I was logging VP5E as "Robert Novak", a previous owner of the call I guess.
